Durr leads No. 4 Louisville women in rout of Boston College
BOSTON (AP) Asia Durr and her teammates were left with a bad taste after No. 4 Louisville's loss at No. 1 Connecticut earlier this week. They were ready to turn the page Thursday night against Boston College.
Durr scored 16 points to lead the Cardinals to an 87-52 victory against the Eagles for their sixth win in seven games.
''We try to take it one game at a time,'' Durr said. ''It was a great game, but we've got to start getting off on faster starts. We can't get off on slow starts.''
The Cardinals led 32-27 at halftime after trailing by 12 in the opening period and outscored the Eagles 55-25 in the last two quarters.
''We just started to play hard,'' Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. ''They knocked (shots) down, and then we started to put some pressure and make things a little bit more difficult.''
Louisville (26-2, 12-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had its five-game winning streak snapped in the 69-58 loss at UConn on Monday, when it trailed by as many as 22 points and came no closer than the final margin in the second half.
Sam Fuehring totaled 14 points and seven rebounds against the Eagles, Myisha Hines-Allen scored 13 points, Arica Carter and Kylee Shook had 11 each, and Jazmine Jones added 10.
Georgia Pineau followed up Sunday's career-high, 23-point game against Pittsburgh with 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Boston College (7-9, 2-11). Eagles leading scorer Milan Bolden-Morris was held to nine points.
''I think (our focus now is) just finishing off strong,'' Pineau said. ''Come into the (ACC Tournament) with some confidence.''
Boston College was unable to build off Sunday's 72-61 victory over the Panthers, a win that snapped the Eagles' season-high, nine-game losing streak. The Eagles' last victory against the Cardinals came Dec. 28, 1985.
Louisville stayed ahead of No. 5 Notre Dame atop the ACC standings with each team earning its 12th conference victory on Thursday.
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: Beating the Eagles helps ease the pain of the UConn loss, and the Cardinals are on the road for two of their final three regular-season games as they attempt to tune up for deep tournament runs in March.
Boston College: After gaining momentum against Pitt, the Eagles head back to the drawing board. Thursday began a stretch of facing three straight AP Top 25 opponents, and BC is looking to win two out of three for just the fourth time this season.
ANOTHER SLOW START
After giving up a 19-3 game-opening run against UConn, the Cardinals again found themselves down double digits in the first quarter and trailed 23-12 after one. Durr didn't score until a layup with 1:20 left in the period.
''We know that we can score, we can put the ball in the basket, but we've got to be able to get stops,'' Durr said. ''Our defense is what's going to win us games and take us far.''
STATE OF GEORGIA
Pineau stayed hot after her career game against the Panthers, making 7 of 13 shots and going 7 for 8 at the line. Her layup with 3:29 left in the first quarter gave BC its biggest lead at 19-7.
''They're trusting me and so I've trusted myself to make the plays that I know are right for our team,'' Pineau said.
TIP-INS: Louisville improved to 12-1 on the road this season after snapping its school-record-tying 13-game road winning streak Monday. ... Boston College fell to 0-3 against AP Top 25 opponents this season. ... With two 3-pointers in the first half, Bolden-Morris set a new Eagles' record for threes made in a rookie season.
UP NEXT
Louisville: Completes three-game trip Sunday at North Carolina.
Boston College: Wraps up three-game homestand Sunday versus Notre Dame.
